Parties' candidate lists not yet out, hopefuls worry

The delay in the candidate selection process by bosses of various political parties in the city has got many aspiring candidates worried as they will now get a very short span of time for campaigning for the upcoming civic poll.

When will the canvassing be flagged off? Flags of different political

parties for sale. With just a month left for the civic election on February

16 in the city, no political party has finalised its candidates yet. This has

left many ticket-seekers, especially the new faces in politics, fretting as

they will get only a short span of time to reach out to people. File pic

With just a month left for the civic election in the city, no political party has finalised its candidates yet. The situation is adversely affecting those aspirants who are new faces in politics as they are left with very few days to reach out to voters.

"We should at least get one month's duration for the campaigning," said Ravindra Salegaonkar, a BJP aspiring candidate from Panel Number 12, which covers a huge area consisting of Model Colony, Bhosale Nagar and Revenue Colony.

Salegaonkar said parties were likely to take another four to five days to finalise candidates. The election will be held on February 16. "We will get only 13 days and we have to adjust door-to-door visits, public speeches and padyatras during this short span of time," said Salegaonkar.

Aniket alias Rakesh Kshirsagar, an aspiring candidate from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena , held the political parties responsible for the delay. He added that whenever the star campaigner of the party visits the city, all the candidates have to remain present for the occasion.

"When senior party leaders hold a public rally, then we have to give our presence there and can not campaign for the whole day in our panel," said Kshirsagar, who now feels he will not be able to hold a public speech in his panel because of the short span of time he will get for campaigning.

Aspiring NCP candidate Nisha Patole from Panel Number 47 -- Rajewadi area -- is also tense and is wondering how she will be able to approach 29,000 voters in her panel in just 13 days. Senior leaders from almost all major political parties confirmed that the process of finalising candidates would take another two to three days, saying they wanted to make sure their party chose the right candidate.